Analog to Digital to the 'Net

Throughout television’s existence, images were created through the use of analog (magnetic) signals. Although effective, analog signals are too large and unwieldy to be efficiently sent across the Internet. Television information had to be translated into the language of the computer in order to be transferred.

Today television and film images are translated into digital signals. Magnetic pulses now become binary “1’s” and “0’s”. This allows computers to interpret how a television or film image looks. Digital imaging has spawned a revolution in TV and movie special effects, but it also has allowed these images to be sent over the Internet.